Conservatively Impressed
Written: Aug 30 '02
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Pros: Smaller than any other nextel, Gets same signal for its size.
Cons: More fragile then any other Nextel, not as small as conventional cell phones.
The Bottom Line: Overall there isn't any other phone I'd rather have, I just wish Motorola would have spent a little longer perfecting the phone for abuse.
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| mitti's Full Review: Nextel Motorola i90c |
I've had 6 different cell phones within the last 5 years so I've experienced many different phones and styles with 4 different phone companies so I may be more critical than other phone users may be. I've come to this phone from a Motorola Digital StarTAC 7768 but had to find another company because I moved and the only service available through my last provider was Analog. I owned a Nextel phone only 2 years previous and decided that they're coverage and plans would best fit my needs. I hadn't looked at the phone options since the i1000 came out (before the plus phones) so I was quite excited when I saw the i90c. It was a bit more pricy than my original i1000 but it considerably smaller.
Service and Signal: With or without the antenna up it almost always has great signal. The only time I have trouble is when I travel up north here in Michigan where there are some dead spots where coverage hasn't been manicured yet. The antenna seems to have little effect on the signal level at all but this is very similar to most modern digital cell phones including my i1000.
Durability: Frankly I'm pretty rough on everything I own. My last Nextel was dropped countless times and was baked in the heat and in my car many times and kept going. I actually drove a previous Nokia cell phone to random errors and uncontrolled random calling because it was dropped so many times. So from the prospective of a heavy phone abuser I found the i90c rather fragile. Comparing the phone to most of Motorola's line this phone is not very strong. I would still put it ahead of Nokia or Ericson however. The problems I experience first off were the amount of clear plastic that scratches very easy. The whole face of the phone is a very supple plastic which is very unnecessary being it only protecting a small screen on the outside which encompasses only 10% of its space. Another problem I experience was the hinges on the phone that make it flip open and closed. Recently I dropped the phone from about 2 feet as I got out of my car onto pavement and it cracked one of the two hinges all of the way through from front to back. I don't believe the screen and the speaker which are in the flip part of the phone are in any danger of falling off yet but I've only had to phone for 8 months and I doubt it will last longer than 18 or 24 months.
Battery Life: The life is very similar to my i1000 as it gets about 40 hours life with regular use of 700 - 800 minutes per month. My usage is higher than a typical customer user but for an average business phone that is only a small dent in the usage a construction company would put on one. The battery has changed a bit also; they've put the battery pack within a removable compartment. I can see this being a big problem with anything from lost backs to breaking the tabs off of the cover. No problems yet however, though I don't change the battery regularly, if I were to I think I'd find it rather tedious.
Design: Besides my problems with the battery I really like the design. The speaker phone is very loud and the headset jack has been nicely located. All of the buttons are easy to read and use in all light conditions. The menus are very simple compared to the design used in the i1000. There is a huge array of features from the built in Java and web functions that I won't explore in this review but they add a lot of functionality to the phone. The ring is very loud if desired, can be heard in the loudest conditions and also has a vibrate option. The screen has 3 different text sizes which make it very easy to read for people who have bad eyes and those who have good eyes can see almost an entire text message on its smallest setting.
Overall there isn't any other phone I'd rather have, I just wish Motorola would have spent a little longer perfecting the phone for abuse.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 219
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Epinions.com ID:
mitti
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Reviews written: 3
Trusted by: 1 member
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